Download Introduction to Psychology

Social Psychology Unit
• 1-2 tests & dates
• Variety of activities
• Objective & outline for unit posted on
website
True or False
1. Most people would refuse to obey an
authority figure who told them to hurt an
innocent person.
2. Studies of college & professional athletic
events indicate that home teams win about
6 in 10 games.
3. Individuals pull harder in a team tug-of-war
than when they pull in a one-on-one tug-ofwar.
Questions
1. Does his absenteeism signify illness,
laziness, a stressful work atmosphere?
2. Was the horror of 9/11 the work of crazed
evil people or ordinary people corrupted by
life events.
3. What drives people to do good or evil?
Social Psychology Unit
Social Thinking
Social thinking involves thinking about others,
especially when they engage in doing things
that are unexpected.
Social Thinking
 Social Psychology
 scientific study of how we think about,
influence, and relate to one another
Social Thinking
 Attribution Theory:
Fritz Heider (1958)
suggested that we
have a tendency to
give causal
explanations for
someone’s behavior,
often by crediting
either the situation or
the person’s
disposition.
Social Thinking
 Fundamental Attribution Error
 tendency for observers, when analyzing
another’s behavior, to underestimate the
impact of the situation and to overestimate
the impact of personal disposition
 Examples: Fatal Attraction, 9/11, Nazi
officials, ex.@ Williams college
Consequences to
attribution
 How we explain someone’s behavior affects
how we react to it
Situational attribution
“Maybe that driver is ill.”
Tolerant reaction
(proceed cautiously, allow
driver a wide berth)
Dispositional attribution
“Crazy driver!”
Unfavorable reaction
(speed up and race past the
other driver, give a dirty look)
Negative behavior
Social Thinking
 Actor-observer bias
Observer - when another person acts, our
focus is on the person (disposition)
Actor - When we act, however the
environment commands our attention
(situation)
Solutions
• Switch roles! If perspectives can be
reversed, attributions also change.
Social Thinking
 Attitude
 belief and feeling that predisposes one to
respond in a particular way to objects,
people and events
Attitudes & Actions
• Cheating example p.5 TRM
• When we feel self-conscious, we are
truer to our convictions
Do our attitudes guide our
actions?
Attitudes will guide actions if:
– 1. Outside influences are minimal
– 2. Attitude is relevant to behavior (running
example)
– 3. Attitude that comes quickly to mind
Social Thinking
 Our behavior is affected by our inner attitudes
as well as by external social influences
Internal
attitudes
External
influences
Behavior
Social Thinking
 Attitudes
follow
behavior
 Cooperative
actions feed
mutual liking
Do our actions affect our
attitude?
• People come to believe what they stand
up for
• Attitudes follow behavior
Demo M53
•
1 = strongly disagree 5 = strongly
agree
1. World hunger is a serious problem that
needs attention
2. Our country needs to address the
growing # of homeless
1 = strongly disagree 5 =
strongly agree
3. The right to vote is one of the most
valuable right of American citizens
4. Our government should spend less $
on nuclear weapons and more on
helping citizens better their lives
Demo M53 continued
1. Do you do anything to personally to
lessen world hunger?
2. Do you personally do anything to help
the homeless?
3. Did you vote in the last election if you
were eligible?
4. Do you personally convey your
feelings to the government?
Social Thinking
 Cognitive Dissonance Theory
 we act to reduce the discomfort
(dissonance) we feel when two of our
thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent
 Leon Festinger
Social Thinking
 Cognitive dissonance
Situation
• You have volunteered to participate in a psychology
experiment on campus. Upon arrival, you were
seated at a table and asked to undertake a series of
dull, meaning less tasks for about an hour.
Afterward, the experimenter convinced you to extol
the virtues of the tasks you had performed by
describing them to other potential participants as
highly worthwhile, interesting, and educational. You
are paid either $1 or $20 to do this. You are asked to
privately rate your enjoyment of the tasks on a
survey. After which amount do you believe your
actual enjoyment rating of the tasks would be higher?
• TRM p.7
3 concepts that illustrate the
influence of actions on
attitudes
• 1. Foot-in-the-door - start with small
requests and more to larger requests
– Low balling ( car dealer technique)
– Write it down
– Can have both +/- effects
– Ex. Of brainwashing with Korean war
POWs
3 concepts that illustrate the
influence of actions on
attitudes
• 2. Role play (Zimbardo exp.)
• 3. Cognitive dissonance
• Others: not in text
– Primacy effect - 1st impression bias
– Reciprocity - given a small gift, you feel like
you need to give back
Tom Sawyer assignment
• Properly label assignment on piece of paper:
Title, Name, Site, Hour
• Use complete sentences.
• Clearly explain how Ben experiences
cognitive dissonance.
• Clearly explain how Tom uses foot-in-thedoor.
• Be specific and include examples from the
story to explain your answer.
Social Thinking
 Cognitive Dissonance Theory
 we act to reduce the discomfort
(dissonance) we feel when two of our
thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent
 Leon Festinger
Social Thinking
 Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon
 tendency for people who have first
agreed to a small request to comply
later with a larger request
 Ex. Korean war pows, sales techniques
 Low balling
 Write-it-down technique
Social Thinking
 Role - set of expectations about a social
position
 Role play influences actions & attitudes
 Ex. Philip Zimbardo prison experiment
 Role play
 Power of the situation is stronger then the
individual
Zimbardo’s prison experiment
• Focus of study was the consequences of
prisons life
• 1971
• Stanford University
• Phillip Zimbardo
Add on to the back of your
Quiet Rage Guide
Phillip Zimbardo did eventually end the
experiment. Make a list of lessons learn from
this experiment?
What applications can be made from what was
learned in this experiment or what relevance
is there for an experiment like this one?
Zimbardo’s prison experiment
Conclusions:
– Role play - people took on their roles and
the situation became real
– Role play influences actions & attitudes
– Power of the situation is stronger then the
individual
3 concepts that illustrate the
influence of actions on
attitudes
1. Foot-in-the-door
2. Role play
3. Cognitive dissonance
Experiments & Names
• Leon Festinger - Cog. Dis
• Fritz Heider - Attrib.
• Philip Zimbardo - Prison exp., role play
Answer the following
questions:
1. Psychologists who study how we think about
and influence, & relate to one another are
called ?
2. Most people tend to _____ the extent to which
people’s actions are influenced by social
situations because their attention is focused
on the person.
3. #2 is referred to as the ____________
4. Heider proposed what theory?
5. Give an example of the consequences of
attributions